An Irby Record has Been Broken! Match Report - 11/05/2024

It was all guns blazing at Winstanley Park as Irby CC’s First XI took on another challenge away from home. Irby Two’s welcomed Aigburth to Mill Hill Road, the Three’s played Bootle and the Fourth XI travelled to Northern.

A Game Like No Other for the 1s

It was a hot day and the 1st XI were on the road to Winstanley Park. After losing the toss, alarmingly the opposition decided to stick us in to have a bat. Maybe he had been reading some statistics from our past games, who knows! The hosts started well, Harry Wilkes after promotion from the 2s was caught at slip leaving Umer to steady the ship with Rafi coming in at 3. It settled for a short while until Rafi found mid-off immediately after a sumptuous cover drive. Kammy and Umer continued to build the quick firing total until Kammy mis-times a pull shot and is caught out. 63-3 and the visitors were perhaps a little frazzled. Nabeel, still in form from his previous few knocks is now at the crease with Umer. The runs keep flowing and Umer reaches his half century with a huge six over long-on. Nabeel then quickly caught up, surpassing 50 himself for the second time this season.

After Umer was finally dismissed Nabeel didn’t hold back, he raced past 100 with another huge six, then quickly past 150. A flurry of runs prevailed as six after six was struck and Nabeel finished on 181* off 119 balls with a staggering 12 4s and 16 6s. Thanks to that and some lower order scrambling the visitors racked up a staggering 326-7 off their 45.

Now time for bowling. With a huge total to defend it made life a little easier for stand-in skipper Tom Crawford, but nonetheless, the work still had to be done. Irby have prided themselves in the field for the past few games and we didn’t disappoint. James Geen and Ollie Wilson began to find their rhythm. It was Geen this time with his first wicket of the season, trapping the opener LBW to an in-swinging yorker and then bowling their Number 3 just two balls later! It was wicket after wicket for Geen, even after the miniature rebuild from Number 4 and 5 they didn’t stop tumbling. Soon, Geen had the side 49-7! Crawford then replaces Ollie with Spinner Mallon, fresh off 7-wickets the week prior and he doesn’t disappoint, although rudely denying Geen his 10-wicket-haul. Rob Picks up two and Geen finishes off the Winstanley side with the last ball of his spell, finishing 8-36 off his 9 overs.

The 2s Suffer a Minor Setback

When the sun shines at Mill Hill Road it’s often a bat first day. So naturally when Nathan won the toss, to the field went Aigburth 1st XI and the game was on. It was up to new opening pair Gareth Jones and Ishan to set the tone for the game, but with the ball seemingly not coming on to the bat and the opening pair keeping a tight line with the ball the score stayed low. No wickets had fallen, even by the 20th over but Irby were in a tricky position with only 100 on the board. The slower bowlers were on and once the wickets had started to fall it seemed that batter after batter succumbed to the same fate of trying to hit the ball a little too hard for the conditions.

It’s not unusual to see the Irby 2nd XI consolidate and rebuild, someone usually is there to steady the ship and put on a good total for the lads to defend with the ball. That did come, with Matt and Oscar at the end with clever running, pressuring the fielders into mistakes and placing another 20 on the board, but 156 wasn’t enough for the hosts and it was time for the visitors to reply.

In order to defend a total, wickets were our friend, but they never seemed to appear until the damage had been done. The Aigburth openers were patient, the Irby bowlers were missing their line and suddenly they were nearing 100 without loss of any wicket. TJ made the first breakthrough, diving forward to catch the opener when he had surpassed 50. Although the damage had been done, it was a flurry of wickets that nearly saved the day for the 2nd XI. The visitors, although 20 runs out, found themselves quickly 6 down and needing a saviour. Sean Delaney was the man with the ball, bowling another beautiful spell, mirrored to the week prior. But with a fast outfield and pace on the ball, the gaps were found and Aigburth CC found themselves winning by 4 wickets.

A good learning curve for the 2nd XI, damage done but not too badly, the side still maintaining a solo lead at the top of Division 2.

Rohith Impresses Again for the 3s and the Chairman ‘Burgles’ Five

Another field day for Chairman Paul Smith as he spins his way to yet another 5-wicket haul at home against Bootle. According to the Skipper, there was a ‘fair bit of grip and turn’ for Smithy out there, making the Bootle batters struggle their way to 65. Rohith opened the innings with a fine spell, unfortunately this time only for one wicket. Skipper TJ took 3 and with the final wicket of the bootle innings from the boot of Irby keeper Garry into the hands of TJ. What a bizarre way to finish! Nonetheless an excellent display from a strong third team placed them in the driving seat.

It was then down to the superstars Chris Davidson, Mahi De Silva and Asad Ali seeing the side home with the bat in just 15.4 overs. The innings was described as patient and well-mannered, with Chris finishing off with 26 not out as the hosts won by 8 wickets. It sends Irby CC’s 3rd XI straight to the top of the table, making the 1st, 2nd and 3rd XI sides all in contention for an excellent finish at the end of the season. With the motivation on their side, the 3s travel away to Birkenhead Park to play their 4th XI this Saturday.

A Fantastic Day with the Bat Edges the 4th XI oh-so-close to Victory

There must have been something in the air this weekend for the Irby CC batters as the 4th XI race their way up to a fantastic 183-7. Kian’s side marched to the field to play Northern’s 5th XI this weekend. Kian won the toss and the Irby openers soon found themselves batting first on a warm day. Great batting from Simon Delaney, Mike Hartley, Rich Abbotts and Andy Leigh who batted excellently to bring the total score above 180. With the 3rd XI and the 4th XI appearing in the Liverpool Comp, the rules are different to the 2nd and 1st XI leagues. Win, Lose, Draw cricket still allows the opposition to take points away from the winning team.

This meant the race was on for the 4th XI to attempt to bowl out Northern to secure the victory. It was a tough ask, with a number of bowlers appearing to have their say. Most Notably James Miles performed excellently with the ball. His 10 overs went for just 11 runs, taking 3 wickets in total. Max Thompson bowled excellently as well with his 2-14 off 6 overs. But ultimately it was the stone wall approach that Northern deployed to fend off the Irby bowling attack. The game was over and a draw was awarded. It’s a shame that games have to be that way, it being seemingly a rather tough task to bowl out a team otherwise face severe points deduction, but the 4th XI march on. It is a gap week for the team next week, so they will have to wait until the end of May for their next league draw.

Sunday Batting Mayhem as the 1st XI Progress in the Cup

Irby 1st XI faced up against 2021 league winners Merseyside Commonwealth in a race against the clock to finish the scheduled 90 overs before the storm blew in. Warm, humid, sunny. Stand in Skipper Tom Crawford wins the toss (a rare occurrence) and we are to bat first. Coming off a major highlight for the season just one day before, the team is all set and raring to go. Albeit there were a few changes in the side, but the batting and bowling prowess remained and Irby had their tail up. 

Harry and Umer to open the batting and the pair started a little rocky. Harry was quickly seen off by the opener after just facing four deliveries. In came Nabeel, still 181 not out, but in no way was he flummoxed by the thought. The pair batted beautifully for the next few overs, pushing the singles and converting them into two’s. It was only until a slight mistake from Umer that saw the partnership take a small stumble. Kamran was next in, still yet to make a score for Irby this year, but it is still early days. Once again the newly formed pair showed their ability to turn singles into two’s, picking off the occasional bad ball on a track that was playing beautifully. Nabeel passes 50 once more and Kamran is not far behind. 

Then suddenly a shorter delivery was bowled, it was argued the delivery was ‘one of those headed to the car park’ but the ball never seemed to get to the bat of Nabeel, it was skied and he was out. Out for 58 it was now up to Ishan to bat with Kamran, who was quickly dismissed attempting a big shot, perhaps a little too keen to score at the rate of the previous pair. After a long partnership, one wicket brought two and Farhad in his 1st XI debut found himself at the crease. Guiding his way around the gaps, Farhad batting with grace, efficiency and prowess along with his partner. Kamran reaches his century, his first for the club and perhaps the first time Irby has recorded two centurions in two days. Farhad once Kamran had been dismissed accelerated and reached his maiden 50 too, finishing the innings off in style on 72 not out. The hosts had once again made a staggering score of 311-9 off the 45 overs.

But the clouds were looming. The pitch appeared to darken and the quicker bowlers were not allowed on. It was up to the spin of Kammy from one end and the swinging seam of Skipper Crawford at the other. Kammy seemed to have a field day with the runs, and also a golden arm with the ball. Not only had the game just started and the wickets began to tumble. The visitors found themselves in a bit of a  hole and the hosts needing to get through 15 overs for Duckworth Lewis Stern to work before abandonment of fixture. The rain began to drizzle and the batters appeared to take more and more time to enter the crease. Irby, flying between ends managed to scrape to 18 overs before the rain, thunder and lightning became all too much. Merseyside were 8 down, Kammy with 5, Umer with 2. DLS was calculated at the visitors needing 272 off 18 overs to win (due to the wickets lost) hands were shaken and the game was won by Irby CC. 

We march on to the quarter finals.